


Duplex

by jarynw02



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi Keiji is a sexy motherfucker, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou are Bros, Bokuto Koutarou Being Bokuto Koutarou, College AU, Crack, F/F, F/M, Fem!Oikawa Tooru, Genderswap, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Fluff, M/M, Nonbinary Akaashi Keiji, Oblivious Iwaizumi Hajime, Past bokuroo, Pining Iwaizumi Hajime, Self-Indulgent, but...female, college shenanigans, fem!Bokuto Koutarou - Freeform, fem!Kuroo Tetsurou - Freeform, im sorry, no beta we die like men, past DaiSuga, they drink white claws
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25798936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jarynw02/pseuds/jarynw02
Summary: “Okay, well, anyway,” Daichi stuttered, still suffering from his blush. “Never have I ever… flashed someone.”Fuck.Luckily, Taoru had diverted her attention so Hajime tried to make his drink as quick and subtle as possible… but there was no escaping Taoru’s hyper-critical eye.“Iwa-chan!”He turned out his hands. “Hey, your roommates drank too!”“Youflashedsomeone?!”
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kuroo Tetsurou/Sawamura Daichi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 126





	Duplex

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while back and decided to finally post it and lol I'm so sorry this exists but also I love the bokuroo broship and it reminded me of myself with some of my friends so yeah here's this...
> 
> Taoru - Oikawa Tooru  
> Koutari - Bokuto Koutarou  
> Tetsura - Kuroo Tetsurou
> 
> Please enjoy this playlist while you read: [bokuto and kuroo's infinite bro playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sqsJMU3A3clW2WvyqC4Ee?si=NWCO7f0GRr2540uY49f4xA)

Taoru wasn’t listening to him. 

She was going through the motions, Hajime could tell, but he’d spent too many years with his childhood best friend not to notice when she’d start to tune him out. Picking lazily at her white-tipped manicure, she hummed an affirmative. Only he’d already stopped talking. 

Hajime waited for the lightbulb to go off in her brain, staring at her. 

He wasn’t sure at what age he’d finally started to notice his brat of a neighbor and lifelong adventure buddy shifting into the hot socialite she was now. There were perks of being her best friend; Often they were given free drinks at their favorite coffee shop. She gave him first pick of any candies her potential suitors had given her. Social media had become a side business for her and she always used a portion of her earnings on Hajime. ( _ “You’re my photographer, Iwa-chan! You deserve a cut. Besides, we can update your god awful wardrobe.” _ ) 

For Hajime, the biggest perk of being Oikawa Taoru’s best friend was knowing her in ways no one else did. 

He was the only one who saw the pain in her eyes at the tipping point of pushing herself too far in volleyball. He was the only one who saw the fragile thing beneath her stare as she watched happy couples in the park. He was the only one who saw the creeping loneliness she’d felt at home ever since her teenage sister had gotten pregnant when they were kids. 

Unfortunately, his big fat crush on her had also been a factor in recent years. 

The ebbing silence finally seemed to bleed into Taoru’s senses and she dropped her hand. “Iwa-chan? Why are you staring at me like that? You look constipated.”

Hajime sighed, fighting a slight blush by throwing the nearest object at her. “You stopped listening to me.”

“Hey!” She swatted the plushie away with her setter’s reflexes, wrinkling her nose. “It’s not my fault you tell boring stories, Iwa-chan! Is this why you can’t keep a girlfriend?”

“As if,” he snorted. “ _ You  _ are why I can’t keep a girlfriend and you know it.”

“I can’t help it if they’re too weak-willed to handle my friendship.”

“That’s what you call friendship?”

She gasped, pulling a hand to her heart. “My friendship is  _ pure _ !” 

“Ha!” Hajime barked, leaning back against her headboard. “Nothing about you is pure, Trashykawa.”

She spun in her desk chair, her long ponytail whipping over her shoulder. “Take that back!” 

He shrugged, raising a smug brow. 

“I hate you,” she whispered.

“The feeling is mutual.”

They glared at each other for a breath before Taoru relented, blowing a huff of air at her fringe. “Okay, fine. What were you saying?”

“So you admit you weren’t listening to me?”

“Ugh!” she moaned. “There’s just a lot on my mind, okay? Cut me some slack.”

He knew well enough the pressure she put on herself over social events and beginning their first year at college was probably the most pressure she’d felt outside of volleyball since, well, since they started high school. Only now she had adoring fans and nearly one hundred thousand internet followers. 

“Fine,” he said, crossing his legs on her bed. “I was saying that I need you to try and keep dinner as chill as possible.”

“That’s all?” she frowned. “That’s boring, Iwa-chan. Dinner is going to be fine. It’s not even a big deal.”

Hajime watched her scroll through her phone, deciding his next words carefully.

“It’s just that,” he started, trailing off. 

She paused her place on her phone with a thumb and slid her eyes up to him curiously. 

“Well, uh,” he hesitated. “I’ve met your roommates.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what I’m saying.”

“I don’t believe I do, Iwa-chan. Spell it out for me.”

Hajime dropped his head back on the wall with a thud, his own dark hair barely peeking into his line of sight above his brow. “You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

“Look,” he said, his voice stern. “I’ve barely met my roommates, but they’re… nice. Quiet. Simple.”

“How… quaint,” Taoru mumbled. 

“Please don’t let your roommates make them hate me.”

As if on cue, a loud crash sounded through the closed door of Taoru’s room -- something like pots and pans coming from the kitchen. 

“See! They’re excited about it,” Taoru said decidedly. “Already prepping. Nothing to worry about.”

“Oikawa, they’re going to burn our house down, aren’t they?”

Taoru frowned, a hint of real ire in her eyes that only Hajime would be able to distinguish. “Shut up. Not everyone can be boring. Let them live.”

He wanted to say, ‘ _ Remember you said that when they catch your hair on fire’,  _ but he knew that Taoru had never been able to keep many female friends. She was genuinely excited about her roommates and their enthusiasm over her was charming.

Still, Taoru’s roommates were...

Intense.

He didn’t even want to imagine the three of them on the volleyball court together.

The chaotic energy.

“Okay,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“It will be.”

He left her to retreat back to his side of the duplex where his new roommates were still arranging their things. The way Taoru had almost seemed to reach for him when he turned to go cycled through his mind the entire four steps it took to cross their porch. 

Keiji’s door was open when he stopped, leaning on it with a shoulder. 

“How’s it going?”

Keiji had way more possessions than Hajime. All types of storage containers still littered the carpeted floor, clothes draped over the various stacks with their hangers dangling from the tops. Black seemed to be his theme for both his decor and wardrobe, though the occasional deep blue subtly poked out here and there. 

“Ah,” Keiji said, not at all startled by Hajime’s sudden appearance. He was hunched over a pile of books he methodically placed on a small, mostly empty, bookshelf. “Not bad. You?”

Hajime wasn’t normally much of a social creature, but that was by choice rather than shyness. However, he couldn’t help but feel his anxieties about everyone getting along pushing him toward befriending his new cohabitors. 

“I’m all settled. I think the girls are starting to cook, so it won’t be too long before dinner,” he said as Keiji straightened before sitting back on his perfectly made bed that was lifted for more storage space beneath. 

“Sure, that’s fine,” he said politely, looking to Hajime with lightly lined eyes. The cosmetics made them a startling metallic blue that was visible from the doorway. “Do you know all of them or just the one?”

“Uh,” he regrettably stuttered. “Taoru is my childhood friend. I met Tetsura and Koutari when I moved in.”

Keiji only hummed, an awkward silence slipping between them. 

“Well, I’ll let you know when they’re ready for us.”

“Thank you.”

Hajime’s steps were a little too hurried as he made his way for the stairs and away from Keiji’s room. He liked the guy just fine so far. Keiji was just… quiet. And his stare was a little… intense. 

Okay, Hajime was terrified of Keiji. Whatever.

The upstairs was simple: two bedrooms on opposite ends with a bathroom in between. He felt for his phone in the pocket of his jeans as he moved to the right, bypassing said restroom which was currently occupied.

Hajime’s room was set up already like he’d told Keiji, though most of that was both hindered and propelled by Taoru. She’d demanded to help him set up, which meant she wanted to hang posters that she’d purchased without telling him and left behind a stuffed alien head that really pissed him off every time he looked at it. 

But it was fine. 

His old punching bag fit nicely in the only corner void of furniture, stand and all. Approaching it slowly, the familiar bittersweet nostalgia crept up on him. He traced his fingers over the cracks in the time-worn black leather and huffed a laugh at the fading green paint of one of the many alien heads Taoru had covered the bag with. They were fourteen then, when the bag was brand new. 

His roommates were going to think he actually liked aliens and he took a mental note to pester Taoru a little more for it later. 

“Hey, Hajime.”

He yanked his hand away from the punching bag and turned at the sound of Daichi’s voice. “What’s up?”

“Are you sure it’s okay for all of us to go next door for dinner?” Daichi asked, his face tense with genuine concern. “I don’t want to be intruding on anything if they’re just getting settled,” he trailed off. 

“Nah,” Hajime shook his head. “The girls are excited about it.”

This made Daichi’s brows raise. “Oh really?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, imagining the three of them setting their stove on fire. “And they moved in a couple of days ago, so they’re good.”

“Okay, cool.” Daichi rubbed a hand at the back of his neck beneath his short-cut hair before jerking his eyes up to Hajime. “Fuck, I should have made something to bring.”

Hajime narrowed his eyes. “I really don’t think they’ll care.”

“But it’s rude,” Daichi insisted. 

A heavy sigh fell out of Hajime’s nose and he crossed his arms. “Fine,” he said, remembering that he didn’t actually know Taoru’s roommates all that well and it probably would be rude to accept their cooking just to leave afterward. “I can see if we have time to run to the little store down the street.”

“Cool,” Daichi said. “I hope so.” Then he belatedly added, “I’m going to go see if Keiji wants to come with us.”

But he didn’t move from Hajime’s doorway. 

Hajime raised a single brow. 

“Uh,” Daichi said, casting a quick glance over his shoulder. “I’m kinda scared of Keiji.”

Barking out a laugh, Hajime stepped toward his new roommate and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Me too. But he’s only human. We’ll go together.”

“Thanks, Haj.”

After a quick text conversation with Taoru saying they had half an hour and facing Keiji downstairs, the three of them walked to the nearest convenience store down the block and each picked out candies and desserts. 

On the walk back, Hajime couldn’t stop himself from saying something.

“Don’t your feet hurt?”

Keiji looked over to him and then down at his heeled dress shoes. “Not really. These are some of my favorites, actually.”

“I don’t understand how both of you aren’t hot,” Daichi said, eyeing Hajime’s hoodie and Keiji’s black sweater. 

“Not a fan of shorts, personally,” Hajime said, his bag of pastries swinging at his side. 

“Eh,” Keiji dragged out, making him suddenly much more relatable. “I have an image of sorts to maintain, though it was born out of my love for clothes so I suppose I don’t have many complaints.”

“Public figure?”

Keiji’s eyes slid over to Hajime and he could see the hint of surprise beneath the low lids. “Yeah. I’m an influencer.”

“So is Taoru,” he nodded. 

There was a beat of meaningful silence and Hajime could almost feel Daichi trying to jump out of his skin beside him. 

“So are you like,” Keiji said, “her photographer boyfriend?”

Daichi choked and Hajime deflated.

“Ugh,” Hajime groaned, though it sounded more like a growl. “Except I’m not her boyfriend.”

“Right,” Keiji said, his tone smug and Hajime shot a glare at him. Keiji only shrugged. 

“Whatever, man,” Hajime said as casually as he could, but he was used to this -- he’d schooled his flustering years ago. “What about you guys? Any partners?”

“Nope,” Keiji said.

Daichi was quiet for a moment before, “Ah, me and my boyfriend broke up before high school graduation.”

A thought dropped into Hajime’s mind and he chuckled. “Maybe the neighbor girls will spice up your lives.”

More like implode their lives, but whatever. Same thing. 

Then maybe he’d have others to suffer along with him.

No, no that was cruel. 

“Honestly?” Keiji said and both Hajime and Daichi lit up with surprise, turning toward him as they reentered their row of duplexes. The little cottages of varying shades of vibrant colors were honestly horrendous, but they were a great price for such a set up on the interior. “I wouldn’t mind.”

_ You say that now. _

But Hajime didn’t want to scare them away.

So what if he’d seen Tetsura and Koutari surf down the stairs on the lids of their storage bins? So what if Tetsura had told him not to touch the box labeled ‘hazardous’? Who cares if he’d never seen Koutari sit or lie down in any form that wasn’t upside down? They were just a couple of girls. 

No big deal.

“I can’t say I haven’t thought about it,” Daichi added. “But I’m not in any kind of hurry or anything. If something happens, it happens.”

Hajime shifted his shopping bag to his other hand to reach for his phone to text Taoru that they were almost there.

“That is a  _ great _ way to think about, Daichi.”

When they stepped into the girls’ side of the duplex, music was playing.

Very loud music. 

With a hard beat and a lot of expletives. 

Hajime felt abruptly out of place.

Keiji and Daichi flanked him in the doorway, waiting for him to move, but after all his apprehension building throughout the afternoon he was finally shell shocked by the aggressive rap music. 

Koutari finally slid out from the kitchen in tall socks with black bands cinching around her calves. Mouth wide open as she sang the lyrics of the song, she turned, hips moving to the beat until she saw the three of them frozen at the door. 

“Ah!” she shouted, jumping straight up with a huge smile on her face strikingly accented by her bright golden eyes. “The boys are here!” 

Something else Hajime had noticed about Taoru’s roommates: they were stupid hot. 

Though until now, he’d only seen them in trendy oversized tees and sweatshirts, legs bare and hair thrown atop their heads carelessly. Apparently, they’d decided to look a bit more presentable for their guests and if this is what Koutari was wearing, he had to restrain his eagerness to see what Taoru might have picked out. 

He quelled the small voice that hoped she thought of him while choosing her outfits. 

“Hajime!” Koutari barreled toward them without a care in the world, arms spread wide. She crashed into Hajime, squeezing him into a hug while he held his hands away from her body, unsure if it was okay to reciprocate with so much of her midriff showing. It wasn’t as if she was naked -- her loose shorts were longer than women’s volleyball spandex -- but he wasn’t sure whether her top was a shirt or a bra. 

He was a little flustered. 

She pulled back, unfazed. “Who are your roommates?”

“Uh.” Fuck, he needed to get a handle on this stuttering he seemed to pick up just in time for college. “Daichi and Keiji,” he said, pointing to them over his shoulders in turn. 

“Nice to meet you,” Daichi said, slow enough that it sounded a little weird. 

Keiji didn’t say anything and it would have been awkward except Koutari seemed to be immune to such a concept. 

“Awesome!” she chirped, the white of her teeth as bright as her tight tank top and the white ends of her otherwise black hair. “This is going to be so fun. I’m excited.” She took her time looking over each of them, her smile remaining large and genuine. “C’mon! Take your shoes off. Come in, come in.”

The song switched somewhere and Koutari gasped, running from them in a full sprint that made Daichi actually reach out as if to catch her when she inevitably slid straight into the wall across the duplex from them. 

But she didn’t crash. She timed the glide of her socks across the laminate wood to land her just in sight of the kitchen as she started to belt out the lyrics, another voice joining in. Hajime recognized Taoru’s laugh in the background. 

They set their shoes aside by the front door and tentatively followed Koutari toward the kitchen before she eagerly introduced them all.

When Taoru came into his view, a grin spread across her lips. “Iwa-chan!” 

“Iwa-chan~” Tetsura mimicked, earning her an elbow to the ribs from Taoru and the motion lifted her alien crop top Hajime had seen on her plenty of times before, but for some reason, he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the smooth skin of her stomach. 

“Only I call him Iwa-chan,” Taoru said petulantly, sticking her tongue out for emphasis. 

Tetsura smirked, but when she opened her mouth Taoru’s hand flung over it. The two of them were a scene with one tall and one short, one in soft neons and the other in tight grungy black, but, hey, both of their legs were almost completely exposed so there’s that. They glared at each other as the boys stood in the opening between the living area and the kitchen. 

Daichi cleared his throat. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Koutari grabbed him by the wrist. “Sing the duet in this song with me!” 

“What?”

“Come on, it’s building!” 

Daichi’s lips parted, eyes wide. 

“I’m off the deep end~! Watch as I dive in~!”

“Hey!” Tetsura yelled over the music, pointing an accusatory spoon at Koutari. “This is  _ our  _ song.”

“Oh, Tetsu! No, it’s not!”

“Yes, it is!” 

“Well, we have like a million songs. I wanted to sing this one with Daichi!” 

Tetsura narrowed her eyes at her friend and Hajime recalled the brief history lesson he’d been given on their close friendship since middle school. 

“I’m gonna ruin your dessert,” Tetsura said.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Koutari breathed, barely audible against the music. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Taoru cut in. “Kou-chan, get the guys drinks and sit with them in the living room. We’re almost done.”

“Yes, Master,” Koutari said with a deep, sincere bow, and Hajime’s jaw dropped. 

What the fuck was that?

But he didn’t have time to think about it before Koutari was pushing him away from the kitchen along with Daichi and Keiji. She sing-songed a little chant about ‘let’s go, here we go’ the whole way before pushing them down into seats; Hajime and Daichi on the couch, Keiji on an armchair. 

And then Koutari perched herself on the arm of said chair and grinned over at the boys on the couch. 

“Alright guys, we have lime, cherry, and mango. Pick your poison.”

Hajime watched Keiji’s dark eyes rake over all the exposed skin of Koutari’s back in a blink. The image of the two of them so close together was startling -- like literal day and night. 

“As in alcohol?”

Koutari bubbled out a laugh, hunching her posture further and exposing a tad more cleavage. Hajime tried not to groan. This is exactly what he was trying to warn Taoru about earlier. 

“Daichi,” she said soothingly. “Of course I mean alcohol. We’re in college now. Don’t tell me you don’t drink?”

Daichi barely paused before saying, “No, I do. I just didn’t understand what you meant.”

Yeah, right. 

“Mango is fine,” Hajime said, ready to end the weird stare off between the wildest of the girls and the tamest of the guys. 

Koutari turned to him and nodded with a smile.

“The same is fine,” Daichi said. 

And then Koutari swiveled around to look at Keiji behind her. They were nearly eye to eye and Koutari had to lean against the backing to keep her balance. 

“And for you?”

Keiji, who had yet to speak to any of the girls, looked at her in a way that Hajime did  _ not  _ want to witness before saying, “I’d like cherry.”

Koutari’s lips pressed into a tight smile. “Cherry it is.”

Then she hopped up and retreated into the kitchen. 

“What the fuck was that?” Hajime said, his filter lost somewhere in the kitchen with Taoru’s crop top. 

“What?” Keiji said.

Daichi actually chuckled, shaking his head slowly. “He says ‘what’.”

Keiji rolled his eyes. 

Koutari returned with four canned drinks, expertly held in two hands, right before Tetsura and Taoru followed, the former carrying plates and silverware. Koutari passed around the drinks and Taoru leaned against the sofa near Hajime. 

“Wanna help me in the kitchen?”

He raised a brow at her but stood nevertheless. 

Once safely a distance from the others, Taoru spun, holding out her arms. “See!”

“See what?”

“I told you they’d be fine!” 

Hajime shoved the cynical smirk he wanted to give her down, keeping a straight face. “They’re as intense as always, Crappykawa.”

Taoru frowned and swat his arm. “That’s a part of their  _ charm _ , Iwa-chan. I know you have no concept of the word, but--”

“You’re right,” he interrupted. “So sad that I have no one charming in my sad, dreary life.”

She wrinkled her nose, quiet for a moment. “I can’t tell if that was a compliment or not.”

“You’re so dumb.”

“ _ Rude! _ ” she snapped, shoving him away. “I really do think they’re getting along fine though.”

“Wait ‘til you see the looks between Koutari and Keiji.”

Taoru’s eyes lit something sinister. “What? Really?”

“It’s disgusting.”

“Oh shut up,” she said. “Just because you don’t believe in young love--”

“Young love? They’re thinking about  _ some  _ kind of love, but I know that’s not it.”

“Iwa-chan!” She stomped her foot. “How many times do I have to tell you to just let people  _ live _ .”

“Whatever.”

“Ugh.”

“Did you even need help with anything?”

“No,” she admitted, fidgeting with the hem of her terry cloth shorts. “Just wanted to talk to you.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“ _ Mean! _ ”

With the plates divided, the others started to file into the kitchen to fill them up with the food that turned out to be surprisingly edible. Tetsura had turned on the tv as everyone crowded around the short table at the center of the seating area. She dutifully discussed possible show choices with the reasonable Daichi and unreasonable Koutari until Taoru settled next to Hajime and barked out her preference. 

When the food was finished, Daichi retrieved their dessert purchases and littered them across the table while Keiji offered, well,  _ informed _ the girls he was going to wash dishes -- the other boys following behind quickly. 

All the while, Koutari had played happy bartender -- making sure no one ever lacked a drink in their hand. 

The chatter had all been brief and based on the food or the tv show until the boys settled back in the living room, dishes now clean and dry. Tetsura had claimed the chair opposite Keiji's while Taoru and Koutari sat close together on the sofa. When Keiji moved back to his chair, Koutari looked over at Daichi and Hajime approaching the couch. 

“Here you go,” she chirped, kindly, and hopped up to take her place back on the arm of Keiji’s seat. 

Hajime wondered how long before Keiji’s hand drifted over to the small of her exposed back. 

The drinks were no more than sparkling water and he had little experience drinking them, however, he did have experience with Taoru after drinking just a few so he was wary about how surprisingly potent they were. Still, they’d each had at least three, though Keiji and Tetsura might have had four. 

The dark-haired girl didn’t seem too fazed though as she sat open-legged in the chair beside Daichi. Hajime found himself avoiding looking at her because she was…

Perky.

And with her clothes as small and tight as Koutari’s, along with the black that showed off an edge to her, Hajime knew to stay away. 

Crap, why was he staring at her?

“Okay!” Taoru suddenly said beside him with a soft clap. “Let’s play a game.”

Hajime groaned. “Does this have to be one of  _ those _ parties?”

“I don’t think you’d know one of  _ those  _ parties if they bit you in the ass,” Tetsura laughed, pulling a long leg up into her chair. 

Hajime glared at her and Daichi covered a laugh with a cough into his hand. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Taoru said. “Still, we are neighbors for the year so we might as well get to know each other! What better way?”

“I’m in!” Koutari cheered. Her eyes were a little glassy, but she seemed the same as before, if not a little quieter after food and alcohol.

“I think that sounds fine,” Daichi said once he’d regained his composure.

“Sure,” Keiji said, and Hajime didn’t miss the way his eyes flashed to Koutari. 

Ugh.

“Fine,” Hajime finally said. 

Taoru patted his knee. “As if you had a choice.”

“I’m leaving.”

“Iwa-chan~!” she whined, slipping a leg over his as if it would nail him down in place.

And, well, it would. 

But he wasn’t going to just tell her that.

“Drinking game?” Tetsura pretended to ask the group while looking straight at Taoru. 

“Why not?” Taoru answered casually as if that wasn’t her plan the whole time. Hajime held back an eye roll as she flicked her brown ponytail over her shoulder. 

“Shots?” Koutari suggested, sharing a pointed look with Tetsura. 

But Taoru stood as the surprising voice of reason before Daichi busted a nerve beside her. “No, no. We’ll just keep drinking these. Don’t want to get plastered.”

“Yet,” Keiji chimed in and the room turned to him in brief shock. 

Koutari smiled down at him before turning back around. “I like him.”

Tetstura sighed. “We know.”

Koutari didn’t stop smiling, but Keiji seemed to pinken a bit. 

Ah, so he’s not a robot. 

Hajime didn’t know much about his new roommates except they also played volleyball. His first impression of Daichi had been neutral, much like the calm stable presence the guy gave off. Keiji, on the other hand, came across cold and aloof. As long as he took care of his share of the chores Hajime didn’t really mind, but it seemed the longer the pretty boy was around the pocketful of sunshine that was Koutari, he seemed to open up a little more. 

Though maybe that was just Keiji in general after spending a little more time with him. 

“Alright,” Taoru said, her leg still latched over his knee. “So it’s a nice sized drink every time you are guilty! And then whoever’s turn it is can ask one of the guilty for the story.”

“And if you refuse, it’s a shot,” Tetsura added with a smirk. 

Taoru eyed her roommate for a moment while Daichi rolled his head back on the couch. “Yeah, that’s fine. Any questions?” the unspoken leader of their little pack said. She turned to Hajime with big, pouty brown eyes. “Wanna go first, Iwa-chan?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Not gonna happen.”

“ _ Please. _ ”

“Your begging does nothing for me.”

“Whatever, you--”

Tetsura cleared her throat, sending a harsh look over at the two of them. “I’ll go first.”

“Does anyone need an extra can before we start?” Koutari piped in urgently.

A few of them said sure and she dashed off to grab everyone another round before settling back into the arm of Keiji’s chair. 

“Okay,” Tetstura said, wiggling around in the chair and drawing eyes to the way her black top bent above her tan, bare stomach. “Never have I ever… had sex outdoors.”

Hajime almost choked. 

Koutari laughed openly. “Oho, you’re diving right in, Tetsu?” she said with a last giggle before taking a swig of her cherry flavored drink. 

Keiji followed her with a drink of his own and the two made more  _ eyes  _ at each other. And Hajime hated the way he wanted to watch Taoru to see if she’d drink, but luckily he could see her enough out of the corner of his vision.

Daichi, however, also took a drink and the entire group looked at him as he blushed furiously. 

“Okay, Daichi!” Tetsura sung. “Tell us the story!”

Daichi dropped his head back on the couch once more and sighed, apparently contemplating taking the shot. 

“Okay, uh, so,” he started, avoiding all eye contact as he stared at the ceiling, his neck turning pink up to his ears. “It was with my ex, er, under the… under the bleachers of the football field of my high school.”

“Oh snap!” Koutari beamed, clapping her hands once. 

Tetsura grinned at him. “What a rebel.”

Daichi groaned. 

But Hajime had to admit that he would have never expected that from the seemingly morally uptight Daichi. 

“Yeah, yeah. Can we move on?”

Tetsura gestured to him with her drink. “It’s your turn, Dadchi. We’ll go in a circle.”

“Dadchi?” he asked her incredulously.

Koutari had stifled her laughter in Keiji’s shoulder -- and oh, there goes his arm. Hajime knew he wouldn’t be able to resist wrapping it around her. Taoru slapped a hand to her mouth and turned to Hajime, her eyes shining with the laughter she refused to let escape. 

Hajime couldn’t look away. 

Tetsura was unwavering. “‘Cause it sounds like ‘Daddy’.”

“Oh my god,” Daichi mouthed, quickly focusing on anything but the girl who appeared to revel in the way she took up the part of devil’s advocate in her all black outfit, dark hair draped over her shoulders and dark eyes alight as she watched the victim of her games squirm. 

“Okay, well, anyway,” Daichi stuttered, still suffering from his blush. “Never have I ever… flashed someone.”

Fuck. 

Luckily, Taoru had diverted her attention so Hajime tried to make his drink as quick and subtle as possible… but there was no escaping Taoru’s hyper-critical eye. 

“Iwa-chan!” 

He turned out his hands. “Hey, your roommates drank too!” 

“You  _ flashed  _ someone?!” 

“Oh shut up, Crappykawa. It’s not a big deal.”

“Story.”

“It’s not your turn to ask for a sto--”

“Actually,” Daichi cut in, “ I would like to hear the story.”

Hajime lamented with a low grumble.

“Fine,” he said. “It was a dare on a volleyball trip.”

“So you just  _ flashed  _ someone,” Taoru said, her nose wrinkled with disgust. “You just flashed someone  _ your junk _ ?”

“Not my  _ junk _ , you idiot,” he snapped. “I mooned another bus we passed on the highway.”

“Oh my god.”

Koutari burst into a laughing fit, quickly followed by Tetsura, while Taoru gaped at him. 

“I’m ashamed of you,” Taoru said with mock sincerity. 

“Goes both ways,” he said right back to her and her lips popped open in offense.

“Okay,” Daichi said. “Taoru, it’s your turn.”

She pouted, turning back around in her seat with her arms crossed. “Well, um, never have I ever kissed a girl.”

There was an awkward pause and then everyone took a drink besides Taoru who responded predictably. 

“What?!” She jerked upright in her seat, head bobbing between her roommates. “Why am I the only one who hasn’t?”

“Because you’re boring as fuck.”

“I wasn’t asking  _ you,  _ Iwa-chan.”

Hajime shrugged, a tiny smile tempting the corners of his lips. 

“Well,” Tetsura said, “we could remedy that for you in lieu of an explanation.” She looked over to Koutari who nodded in agreement.

“Seriously?”

Koutari shrugged. “Yeah, it’s no big deal. Just a kiss.”

The boys were noticeably silent.

“Okay,” Taoru said slowly. Hajime leaned into her side a little in an attempt to communicate that she didn’t have to give in to any sort of peer pressure. But the Taoru he knew would also never back down from a challenge. “Tetsu?”

Tetsura smiled, exchanging a quick look with Koutari before rising from her chair. Her legs looked even longer than before, though that might have been the effects of the little bit of fuzziness creeping in on Hajime’s mind. Tetsura moved to sit on the short table in front of the couch, leaning across the space in between and waited for Taoru to meet her there. 

The kiss was slow and a  _ lot  _ more sexually charged than Hajime had expected. He’d never seen Taoru kiss someone before. She’d had plenty of boyfriends over the years, but they’d both attempted to keep their love lives separate from their friendship… though it proved to be impossible with the way they spent almost every waking hour together since they were six years old. 

Still, the sight of his best friend's mouth open and fitting against another’s, even a girl’s, was a bizarre blurred line of eroticism and jealousy. 

It was… strange.

They pulled apart grinning and Koutari roared with applause, earning a light chuckle from Keiji behind her. 

Hajime and Daichi were quiet. 

Taoru wiped her mouth, hesitantly looking over to Hajime. “Your turn.”

He avoided looking at her, because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to tear his eyes away ever again. From his peripherals he could see how her lips had darkened and a flush had spread over her cheeks. If he saw her eyes in any form of need… his restraint only went so far and tonight was not the night for a love confession. 

So he cleared his throat and pressed onward. “Never have I ever written a confession letter.”

This had apparently been a sensitive topic. Everyone quieted. 

When Koutari and Keiji both started to drink, they finally smiled and intertwined their arms to take the drink together. 

Disgusting. 

They just met like, two hours ago? What?

And then Taoru swirled her can before sighing and taking a drink.

Wait, what?

Taoru?

Miss Popular?

Miss I-Get-A-Love-Confession-Every-Day?

Wrote a love confession?

And never told him about it?

He raked his mind over her past boyfriends trying to remember which of them had been most important to her, but came up empty. The longest she’d ever stayed in a relationship was maybe three months. She rarely even acted like she cared about the guys she shuffled through.

Hajime raised his brow at her.

Her hands flew to her face, dragging it down dramatically. “Don’t.”

“Oh, I’m gonna.”

Taoru huffed at him. “Fine. Then I’m taking the shot.”

What? No.

But Koutari had already hopped away from Keiji to pour a shot in the kitchen. Tetsura looked over to Hajime with a sympathy that really pissed him off. 

“Sorry, Haj. Rules are rules.”

Hajime glared at Taoru and he knew she understood him. 

_ You’ll tell me eventually. _

Koutari went the full mile -- dressing the glass with salt and offering a cut lime. 

“Tequila?” Tetsura asked and Koutari grinned. “Let’s do it with her.”

“I thought you might say that!” 

She zipped back into the kitchen and returned with two more shots she’d apparently already prepared. 

“Cheers!” Koutari shouted as the three girls clinked their shots and tapped them on the table before swallowing them in an instant. 

Hajime made eye contact with Daichi who puffed out his cheeks in a wide-eyed sigh. 

“Is it my turn?” Koutari asked Keiji behind her. She’d managed to stay on the arm rest the entire night, never once complaining. Though this was the most still Hajime had ever seen her -- and the most upright on any given piece of furniture. 

Keiji nodded simply. 

“Okay!” she chirped facing the group again. “Never have I ever… made a sex tape!”

“Hey, you’re not supposed to use your turn to attack!” Tetsura said, pointing an accusatory finger across the room. 

Koutari raised her hands innocently. Hajime couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not. “I didn’t! I wanted to know about everyone else!” 

“Ugh,” Tetsura growled. “Fine.”

She took her drink at the same time that Keiji and Daichi did. 

“Dadchi!” Tetsura gasped, holding a hand to her heart. “Your sexual adventures make a modest girl like me blush!” 

“Modest?” Hajime couldn’t resist. 

Taoru smacked him on the shoulder and he was just happy she seemed to snap out of her funk after his question. 

“Tell us, Daichi!” Koutari said, bouncing in her seat.

“No, thank you,” he said. “I’ll take the shot.”

Koutari humphed, but moved to go make the shot nevertheless. Keiji grabbed her by the wrist. 

“Me and Hajime will take the shot with him,” he said with a slow smile. 

Hajime wanted to refuse, but he didn’t want to interact with the energy between those two even more. 

The three boys imitated the girls’ cheers and threw back the shot of tequila. 

And now they were all feeling… pretty  _ good _ . 

“Your turn,” Koutari told Keiji from her perch with a pat to his chest and he looked up at her with the smallest curve of his lips. 

“Never have I ever given a lap dance.”

“Oh, fuck,” Tetsura chuckled across from them. 

“They’re not very subtle are they?” Taoru whispered much too loudly to Daichi beside her. 

“Nope, not at all,” he answered with a shake of his head. 

The worst part of their seemingly instant chemistry was that they were in this little bubble together, neither really being affected by their surroundings. 

Hajime hated that a part of him was jealous. 

Tetsura took her drink first as they all watched the pair who hadn’t looked away from each other despite the teasing. 

Koutari slid off the edge of the chair and into Keiji’s lap where he readily wrapped an arm around her back to stabilize her as she poured her can back for a drink. 

It was actually… kinda hot. 

But Hajime was quickly distracted by Taoru latching onto his arm and nuzzling her head into his bicep. 

She was drunk. 

She was always cuddly when she was drunk. 

Hajime had never once complained. 

Keiji’s closed lip smile didn’t falter when he asked her, “Story?”

Koutari’s returning grin was brilliant. “Or I could show you?”

“Aww, Kou,” Tetsura whined. “Don’t make us all watch that.”

Koutari turned to her best friend, face lit in amusement. “You just don’t want me to show up your terrible dancing skills.”

“My dancing is not terrible.”

“But mine’s better,” she smiled.

“Yeah, so?” Tetsura said. “I bet Taoru’s never really danced in her life.”

“That is not true!” Taoru argued, releasing one hand from Hajime’s arm to point at her. 

It was true. 

But Hajime wasn’t going to out her.

“Oh yeah?” Tetsura challenged. “Then show us? I’m sure your best friend won’t mind.”

Wait what?

Taoru’s pale skin tinged pink. “Oh my god, stop.”

“What? Afraid you’ll turn on your bestie?”

Koutari laughed, loud and open in Keiji’s lap. 

The instinct to protect Taoru swallowed him, but also were they really proposing the girl he’d been secretly in love with for years was going to give him a spontaneous lap dance? Because how the hell was he supposed to choose between those options?

Then the image of Taoru came to him -- his sweet neighbor girl with soft brown hair and wide gentle eyes to match -- straddling his inevitable boner in front of their new college roommates before the first day of classes even started and he knew he would not survive that situation. 

Her thighs on both sides of his hips, her hair draped around them like a curtain, her lips parted and eyes locked on him as she  _ moved  _ over him. 

“Nope. Fuck you guys,” he said, the words tumbling out. “Try instigating something somewhere else.”

“Aw,” Tetsura barely whined. “No fun.”

“Eh, it’s okay,” Koutari said. “Taoru needs to learn to move her hips right before she could even do a lap dance.”

“Hey!” 

“You’ve got a point,” Tetsura nodded with a thoughtful finger over her lips. 

After a beat, Koutari spoke up again. “So does this mean we have to go somewhere else for the lap dance?”

Daichi choked while Taoru and Tetsura laughed out loud. 

“It’s a genuine question!” 

“I know, Kou,” Tetsura said. “And yes. It does mean that.”

“Hmph,” Koutari pouted before turning to whisper in Keiji’s ear. She uncurled herself from his lap to stand, fingers twined with Keiji’s as she pulled him behind her. “Okay then. Nice to meet everyone!”

Tetsura cupped her hands around her mouth to shout after them. “Real subtle!” 

“I don’t care!” Koutari yelled back as the two took the stairs. Keiji didn’t say anything, but grabbed Koutari’s other hand from behind her as they ascended toward her room together. 

“Well, they didn’t waste any time,” Tetsura commented. 

Taoru tore her gaze from the stairs. “I thought everyone would get along, but I didn’t know it would be  _ that well _ .”

“Honestly?” Daichi said, his cheeks red and eyes glossy. “You guys are crazy.”

Tetsura laughed, reaching over to pinch his arm. “Says the guy who fucked under the bleachers.”

“It was one time!” 

They dissolved into light conversation as Taoru dropped her head back onto Hajime’s arm. 

“You good?” he asked her softly. 

She nodded against his sleeve. “Sleepy.”

“You wanna go to bed?”

Another slow nod. 

“Well, c’mon.”

Nothing.

“Taoru?”

Still nothing.

He bent to see her face and she was sound asleep. 

Hajime sighed. 

“Hey, I think Taoru fell asleep,” he told Tetsura and Daichi who were now in a heated discussion about the morals of various sex settings. “I’m gonna take her to bed and go back.”

There was a glint in Tetsura’s eyes he tried to ignore.

“Alright, man,” Daichi said. “I’ll be back soon.”

With that, Hajime looped his arms behind Taoru’s back and beneath her knees and stood. She rested against his chest with a familiar weight as he crossed the small living room toward her bedroom, the only one downstairs. Once she was safely settled on her mattress, he tried to pull away, but her fingers latched onto his wrist. 

“Don’t go.”

He watched her outline in the dark. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Kinda.”

Hajime sighed. 

“Do you think I would have really been that bad?” she whispered. 

“What are you talking about?”

“The lap dance.”

He snorted, resigning himself to sit on the edge of her bed. “You know they were just baiting you. Who cares?”

“I don’t like thinking there’s something I’m bad at.”

“How spoiled of you.”

She kneed him in the back, her hand tightening on his arm. “Rude,” she said, but the comment was missing her usual teasing lilt. 

A silence fell between them and Hajime knew he should leave, but he couldn’t seem to pull himself away from her touch. 

“Do you think I would have…” she trailed off.

“You would have what?”

“You know.”

“I really don’t.”

“ _ The lap dance _ .”

“I still don’t get it, Dumbkawa. Say what you mean.”

“Would I have been able to, you know,” she said, her voice low and rough between them.

“Turn me on?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

Shy Taoru was the fucking cutest thing on the planet.

“You’re ridiculous,” he said, turning toward her and he wondered what he looked like in the shadows. 

“It’s a valid question!” she argued. “If I could have, then, well, then I wasn’t bad at it.”

“You really have no idea what it’s like to have a penis.”

“Ew, Iwa-chan!” she yelled, flailing under the covers and still somehow managing to draw him closer. “That’s not what I was thinking about!” 

“That’s literally what we’re talking about,” he insisted, trying to hold strong against letting his tipsy, tired mind take over and crawl into the too-small bed beside her. 

“I mean,” she started, pausing. “I guess.”

He didn’t answer. He was too busy studying the shapes of her cheekbones and shoulders and breasts that rose with her heavy breaths under the blankets. 

“I just want to know that I could do it.”

“You’re still going on about this? What’s the big deal?”

“Just say it, Iwa-chan!” 

He snorted again. Gently, he pulled her hand away from his wrist and set it down on the mattress before ruffling her hair as she swiped her hands at him in defense. 

“Okay,” he said. “Yes. If you were to give me a lap dance, it would definitely get me hard. Happy?”

She crossed her arms in a pout, but he could see enough of her face to see that she was relieved. “Good.”

“Good?”

“Whatever,” she snapped. “Are you staying?”

“Ah.” His eyes flit over her body beneath her Area 51 comforter, the lime alien crop top peeking out. “No. I’m gonna go to bed.”

She was quiet and then, “Okay.”

When his hand touched the doorknob he heard a soft, “Goodnight, Iwa-chan.”

“Goodnight, Taoru.”


End file.
